billion in damages to the new york region, making it the country's costliest storm apart from hurricane katrina. more than 125,000 customers remained without power in new york and new jersey, the vast majority on long island and the rockaways. hundreds of people protested outside and the long island power authority on saturday condemning the utility's slow response to the outages. escalating clashes between israeli forces and palestinians in the as the strip have led to some of the worst violence the area has seen in months. human rights activists say seven palestinians have been killed, including five civilians, while 50 others have been wounded. the palestinian center for human rights said four of the deaths occurred when israeli military fired artillery shells on young people playing football. a number of israelis have been wounded by palestinian rockets and mortar. tensions escalated after a young palestinian boy was shot last week during an exchange of fire. in news from syria, groups opposed to bashar al-assad have agreed to form a unified group. the decision comes amid mounting bought be